When Enemy Stars Collide
by FlonTed
Summary: What happened in heaven when the Suzaku Warriors were fighting against the Seiryu Warriors? With the four gods, anything can happen. Unfortunately, they are happening mostly on Ashitare and Nuriko. on hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

It's a new story, starring number one enemies Nuriko and Ashitare! Really, it will be interesting to see them together in a different light, you know. Not as enemies…

It refers to the other two fanfiction I had. It kind of explains why in the later life, Ashitare is not Nuriko's enemy. And it elaborates on the life they had in heaven before the choosing of the Seishi.

Disclaimer: I don't own them…sob…all characters belong to Watase-sensei…

_Stay strong, Miaka…_

Nuriko woke up in a place full of fluffy clouds. He looked around. The deserted paths were paved with gold. The sky is a bright blue. There is no one around. He sat on the cool ground, looking at the place in awe. "Wow, this place looks even more glamorous than the palace itself…either way, it is better than that mountain…"

_That mountain… _

Something was nagging at him at the back of his mind.

_Mountain…_

"Hey, wait a minute!" he exclaimed, a delicate finger on his chin in realization, "I am supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah, and you are supposed to STAY dead," a low menacing growl was heard behind him. His beautiful hair was tugged at harshly. "I fought so hard to eliminate you and now you are up and alive again, huh? No wonder Nakago killed me…"

Nuriko twirled around to come face to face with the owner of the voice – specifically, Ashitare, his enemy. "I remember myself killing _you_, wolf man. However, it doesn't matter – I get to kill you again," he said, grabbing Ashitare's neck and pushing him to the ground with his strength. "It is always a bonus."

"Like hell you would! Do you know how humiliating it is to be beaten by a girly boy?" Ashitare growled, prying Nuriko's hands off him and thus letting go of his enemy's hair. He rolled away and clutched his neck, trying to breathe.

"So, if I am a girly boy, then what are you? You are not much of a manly man, in my opinion. You are not even a real human!" Nuriko retorted, crossing his arms. After glaring at Ashitare for a few tense moments, he sighed in defeat. "Hey, let's just announce a truce, okay? After all, you are not Miaka's enemy now. I trust that you have no reason to fight me either, right? Your lovely shogun isn't here now."

Ashitare scowled. Nuriko sighed and assumed that he agreed to the truce. After all, silence is consent…

"Now, where are we? We are somewhere in the clouds…"

"We are supposed to be dead, girly boy!"

"Oh, yeah…"

-

Back in the Universe of the four gods, Miaka cried about the loss of the shinzaho…

-

Suzaku stormed out of his place. "Ooh, the nerve of Seiryu! He will pay for this!" He stopped grumbling when he saw the two people in the distance. "So, the Seishi had resorted to killing now, huh? Well, it is just a matter of time before all of them will be gathered here and reincarnated… I see no disadvantage to it. We need help now…"

With that, he made his way to them, flying. He took his time in doing so. They will need to have some time to themselves.

-

Nuriko squinted at the figure in front. "I see a man with wings."

"Those are definitely phoenix wings," Ashitare growled offhandedly. He felt strangely at peace with the beautiful boy now. He did not feel that boiling anger that led him to kill the younger person earlier. "Why?" he muttered, looking away. _That boy had burnt him, killed him…indirectly inflicted damage on him…_

Nuriko turned to him, eyes narrowing. "Wolf-man, why what?"

Ashitare sat on the ground, looking at his hands. "Nothing."

"Come to think of it, you seemed to have died earlier than I. I did not see you when I awoke," Nuriko mused, a hand to his hips. "Anyway, I am going to greet that person. He is definitely heading towards us. Hopefully, we know where we are."

All Nuriko got from him was a grunt. Frowning at the wolf, he stumbled along the golden path. He wished that he was wearing his manly clothes. Ribbons and skirts restrain movement.

_Ashitare died before me. Where was he when I awoke? I am sure there is no one around…then, pop! Ashitare appeared out of nowhere. Weird…and why was I asleep in the first place? There is something strange about this place…even the palace is not paved in gold…_

"Suzaku Shinchiseishi Nuriko, I would have thought you would have at least a little respect when passing by your creator. That wolf is exempt, but you are not. I am pleased that you know your way around. Now what I need to do is to trigger Ashitare's memories…"

-

Nuriko looked at him blankly. "Who are you?"

Suzaku sighed. She did not remember after all. "I am…never mind. I shall bring both of you back to my palace. I'll regret bringing along that Seiryu servant, but I wish him to know about what happened in heaven. Seiryu owes me one."

Suzaku grabbed Nuriko and flew at lightning speed to Ashitare. _Time is something I lack. Waiting for them to remember would take hundreds of years._

-

Ashitare had not stopped growling at the stranger ever since he snatched them off the ground. Nuriko did not like the ride in the air either. Even riding up to Taitsukun's mountain is traumatic. Nuriko knew that the stranger is Suzaku. Phoenix, wings, Seiryu, a palace high up in the sky…this must be heaven.

Suzaku deposited them on the ground, as they flew into a heavily decorated room. He plucked two feathers from his wings and dissolved them into two goblets of wine. He gave them to Nuriko and Ashitare. "Drink this. No, Ashitare, it's not poison," he commented, looking at Ashitare's distrustful glare.

Nuriko sipped at his wine as he saw Suzaku try to coax Ashitare into drinking the drink. Eventually, Suzaku apparently gave up. "SEIRYU! COME OUT OF THAT WATERY PALACE OF YOURS AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR WOLF!"

A large dragon poked his head in through a random window. "Can you keep it down? I want to sleep, bird brain! One more incident like this and I will flood your palace!"

Suzaku smirked. "You will have to admit that you are careless, lizard. How can you not notice when one of your people died?"

Seiryu yawned. "You are one to speak! Your Taitsukun is still a mess! How can you still stand her ugliness? She looks older than you are! My sub-ordinate came when I was asleep and that was excusable. Your Taitsukun have been beside you for years and still you've always overlooked her appearance!"

Suzaku sighed. "Don't remind me. Now, tell that wolf to drink that!"

"Why should he?"

"He would remember his life in here then!"

"It is surely poisoned."

"It is made using my feather."

"Oh my! Ashitare, keep away from that solution! His feathers are full of bird germs! All lung illnesses originated from the birds!"

Nuriko and Ashitare looked at their masters. Nuriko handed Ashitare the flask of wine. "Actually, we are not unlike them, you know."

Ashitare grinned for the first time in his life. "Cheers, girly boy."

-

"Hey, birdie, your potion seems to have no effect," the dragon quipped after fifteen minutes. He slid through the window and turned into his human form. "Children, this is Seiryu. And that loud-mouth there is Roasted Chicken. Pay no heed to him."

Suzaku sighed. "No, it will work during the night. We will meet again tomorrow, Children."

Little birds showed Nuriko the way to his room. Seiryu took Ashitare down to the sea. Apparently, he did not distrust Suzaku to keep him safe for one night.

Nuriko pulled the covers up to his chin.

"Nuriko."

"Suzaku-sama?"

"Promise me not to look at yourself until tomorrow morning. Can you?"

"Why not?"

Suzaku thought for a while. "Miaka would die if you do so."

"Hai, I promise, Suzaku-sama."

-

Morning dawned in heaven. Its silence was shattered by two screams, one from the highest tower of the highest palace high up in the air and one from the lowest basement of the lowest palace right under the sea.

-

-

I haven't been around here for quite sometime, have I? I doubt anyone would remember me now…Boo Hoo…

Anyway, it is too late to say Merry Christmas already…but…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I will update the other two when a really amazing idea strikes me on the head. And it will be soon, I hope.

Ja ne.


	2. Godly anger

Updating this one again…just as I thought. No one remembered me…no reviews…I am heart-broken…

Disclaimer: Nope, none of them are mine…they are all Watase-Sensei's characters…

"Now, tell me where my sister went, Suzaku-sama."

Suzaku settled on a red and gold cushion made from his own feathers. His regal grace was not unlike Hotohori's. Maybe it is in their blood and genes. Suzaku certainly wasted no time in recruiting his own brother as a Seishi. No wonder Hotohori was born to be an emperor – the post is the closest to the heavens. Nuriko narrowed her eyes at Suzaku. "What's with sending my sister down to add to my woes in Konan?"

Suzaku waved him away. "Well, I could not resist adding more love and tears to your previous life. It is my job, after all, to plan out different relationships and triangles in the mortal world."

"You had me in love with your own little brother and your chirpy miko!" Nuriko growled, grabbing Suzaku's collar. "How dare you…"

Seiryu materialised in Suzaku's palace, with an angry Ashitare in tow. "Humph, you've always known Suzaku's weird sense of humour. He had half of his Seishi in love with his miko! Roasted bird, you are out of your mind! My miko did not even know much about her Seishi at all!"

"Oh, are you jealous?" Suzaku quipped calmly. "Let go, Nuriko, or you will be banished into the depths of hell. You will regret it, I am sure."

Nuriko reluctantly released him and glanced at Ashitare. She smirked when she saw him. "I seem to take this better than the wolf-guy. I remember you as a dog, wolf-guy. Well, at least this is better than being Miboshi's little pet, don't you think?"

Ashitare let out a roar. Seiryu restrained him. "I advise you not to pour oil into the fire, wine-maker. He had led a sorry life."

"At least he need not get entangled in unnecessary love triangles!" Nuriko snapped back.

Suzaku smirked. "How was I to know that you bore a grudge against him? If you had not helped Byakuren in becoming a concubine, this would not have happened."

Nuriko was really angry. "You mentioned Byakuren! That snotty woman does not deserve my help at all! She destroyed my winery with your brother and got out of it scot free! Do you know how hard it is to rebuild it again? Even in the previous life, she indirectly killed my sister! Now, I…"

Seiryu grabbed her and asked, "Suzaku, you _did_ know that it would soon come to this, did you not?"

Suzaku smiled. "They could not take a joke, could they?"

"IT'S ALL A JOKE?" the two outraged seishi roared.

-

"It does us no good to remember, Suzaku-sama. Come to think of it, you brother is rather handsome too. I get to see Byakuren's good side at least."

"I terrorize Miboshi in my previous life. It cheers me to remember it."

Seiryu sighed. It took them half a day to get them to calm down. "Burnt Bird, this is the last time I am going to support you when your love pairings have gone awry."

"It is the first time it did not work out. I realised that there were not enough females to go around pleasing all of the men. Also, a woman cannot marry more than one husband at a time."

"Suzaku-sama?"

"Yes, Nuriko?"

She set her wine glass down. "From now on, you are never going to get any wine from me or my sister. NEVER, do you understand? We are still gods, not your toys or playthings. If there is nothing to notify us about, we will be going back to our routine, godly lives again."

Ashitare and Nuriko rose from their cushions. They were stopped by Seiryu. "Do you realize that there is no one around?" He said softly. "There is no one to celebrate your return to heaven, no one except us and two Genbu warriors. They had already stepped into the reincarnation wheel."

"You both would find your way there too, had I not been there to guide you back here. Genbu was distraught, but there is no way back. They had fallen into Tenkou's trap," Suzaku said regally.

"You meant the weird little scholar who always appears at our gate of heaven? I gave him a few bottles of peach wine to enjoy. After all, he is our guest. Anyone who comes to heaven is a guest," Nuriko said thoughtfully. "He really is our enemy?"

"That scholar did not seem to use the right way to come here. Only the best come to heaven. Girly-b…fine, Girly-girl, you are the best in the wine profession. When you died, you came here," Ashitare growled, flopping back onto his cushion.

"He is right. The scholar used unorthodox methods to come here. Now he is imprisoning all the gods and goddesses that made it here. We want to ask a favour of you both. Go down there and find out what he is planning to do with them. Free them," Seiryu commanded.

"We will put together our magic to get you down, with real bodies and your symbols intact. Everyone would thank you for it," Suzaku agreed. He glanced at Nuriko. "Your sister is captured too."

"You are not serious! I killed Wolf-man in my past life! How are we going to get along?" Nuriko asked, gesturing at Ashitare and her. "I want to go alone!"

"I do not want everyone's 'thank you' when they come back. I want something more," Ashitare growled. "I have suffered so much that I desire the best."

"We will decide on that when you come back," Seiryu said. He grabbed Suzaku's waiting hand and squeezed it. Purple magic engulfed them.

The Seishi disappeared from heaven. The dragon god released his comrade's hand immediately and wiped it on a cushion. "This is the last time I am going to do magic with you, Bird Brain."

Suzaku smirked. "You said the same when we were schooling with Chichiri, Nuriko and the others. Trust me, this is not the last time."

Seiryu grimaced. "Forgive me for my rudeness, but I am going back to rest at my abode. Do you think two warriors would be enough? Should we send more?"

"I don't think so, lizard. We need people to contact Hades in Hell and also some to discuss how to prevent this from happening again," Suzaku sipped at his wine.

Seiryu turned away. "Lizard."

"I have a name, Bird brain," the dragon god retorted.

"As do I. No, I really wanted to ask you…Is Nuriko really serious about not selling me wine in the near future?" Suzaku looked worried, glancing at the barrels left.

Seiryu smirked. "I am certainly not giving you any of mine! When she comes back, think of something to please her, will you? If you succeed, she will make us a lot of wine that would last us until she comes back from her next job."

Suzaku groaned. "It would be the last reincarnation. After that, we'll wait for Genbu and Byakko to start the ball rolling again."

"Hopefully we won't be as unfortunate as this round, then. Birdie, I know you love my company. However, I know I am really tired. I am going back to my palace to sleep. Don't wake me up for unnecessary things."

He disappeared from the palace. Suzaku stared at his amount of wine left and sighed. Perhaps he should turn to another beverage. His supply of tea had long run out.

-

"Wine-maker, I know you are strong, but you could put me down!"

"I don't want you crashing down on me!"

"I shall break your arm!"

"Fine then!" Nuriko let go of Ashitare and watched him fall onto the cold, cemented ground. "How's that for Wolfy?"

Ashitare grabbed her collar. "I am not done with you yet, Nuriko!"

"Oh, now that I am not a boy when I turned back into a god, you had to call me Nuriko! I am certainly not a girly-girl, for your information!"

"No girl is as loud as you are!"

"You got that right Wolfy!"

"I am not Wolfy!"

All of a sudden, there was a flash out of nowhere. Startled by the flash, the duo ran away from the crowded area, hiding in an alley. "Hey, Wolfy, I don't think that is lightning…it came from that black box…"

"I've got news for you too, Loud-mouth. I don't think we are in the Universe of the Four Gods any longer," Ashitare replied sarcastically.

They looked at each other. "Come to think of it, I really could not recognise you in these weird clothes. Really, if you were properly groomed, you are dashing. Your eyes look almost human now, thank Suzaku," Nuriko praised. "And your hair and skin aren't grey anymore, which is a relief."

Ashitare was wearing a tuxedo and his black hair was long and sleek. His clawed hands were reduced to normal hands. His eyes were a dark purple and he looked as young as Nuriko. She stared at him in awe, before remembering about Ashitare's foul character.

Ashitare smiled. "You don't look half bad in those clothes either. It brings out the man in you."

Unfortunately, Nuriko is wearing the exact same thing as Ashitare. Nuriko punched Ashitare into the nearest wall. "I know what I am in my past life. No need to rake it up, Wolfy."

"So, do you know where we are, dear winery owner?" Ashitare asked the lady.

"If I am not wrong, we are in our mikos' world. This looks like what their world would look like…" Nuriko put a gloved hand to her chin.

"You are not making any sense here…"

Suddenly, the press caught up to them.


End file.
